December 2016

Rachel Brown is an insightful therapist and has undergone family holiday trauma surrounding faith issues herself, so she speaks from personal experience as she gives advice about what you can do if you find yourself this holiday season in a high-stress argument or situation over religion. Rachel is one of 11 children–she understands first-hand how many family members gathered together in one place runs a risk that prosteletyzing or declaring one’s beliefs to influence someone else’s point of view can happen. Radical Acceptance and Mindfulness are two practical approaches she digs into and punctuates with examples of what happened to her to share a message that can help heal relationships.

How can I respect others’ spiritual experiences when I am skeptical of anything spiritual? What are some ways to cope with a conflict or disbelief in the Spirit without lashing out and damaging relationships? What are some ways to learn to trust your own conscience or Spiritual promptings again, even when everyone around you is telling you that your Spirit gauge is wrong, and that you may even have a mental illness?

Active church member, scientist, and writer Lauren Ard and I try to answer these questions with her faith journey story as backdrop, a fascinating tale many I’m sure will relate to. She also explains how she’s able to make it work in the church not just for family reasons, but because she can do a lot of good in her community. I agree! Check out the resources she’s developed for members navigating the middle way:

Welcome to the inaugural episode of the new Healthy Mormon Journeys podcast! As part of the mission of the Healthy Mormon Journeys Foundation, the purpose of this podcast is to provide advice for those who are working to preserve relationships as they or their loved ones go through their own personal faith journeys.

In this first episode, host Dr. Kristy Money talks to Shairna about her and her husband’s faith journeys, and the effects these changes had on their marriage. After working through some hard times (including infidelity) and considering divorce, Shairna talks about how they found healing in part through participation in a vow renewal ceremony, which they were able to individualize in a way they hadn’t their LDS temple marriage.